“Last night, I had the strangest dream!” How many conversations in your life have started that way? People are fascinated with the movies that play in their head while they’re sleeping. Some believe that dreams can predict the future. Others say that dreams depict real life. Still others believe that dreams are a manifestation of what we want to be.

Interpreting dreams has evolved over the years to what some consider an art form. We spend one-third of our lives sleeping. In the average lifetime, six years is spent dreaming. That’s more than 2,100 days spent in a different world! Every night, we dream an average of one to two hours dreaming and usually have 4-7 dreams per night.

Consider some of these other facts about dreams and dreaming:

• Everybody dreams. EVERYBODY! Simply because you do not remember your dream does not mean that you did not dream.

• Dreams are indispensable. A lack of dream activity can mean protein deficiency or a personality disorder.

• Men tend to dream more about other men, while women dream equally about men and women.

• People who are giving up smoking have longer and more intense dreams.

• Toddlers do not dream about themselves. They do not appear in their own dreams until the age of 3 or 4.

• If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.

• Blind people do dream. Whether visual images will appear in their dream depends on whether they where blind at birth or became blind later in life. But vision is not the only sense that constitutes a dream. Sounds, tactility, and smell become hypersensitive for the blind and their dreams are based on these senses.

The dream world is fascinating full of speculation, hope, and sometimes even fear. We can wake up from a good dream feeling refreshed and hopeful. On the other hand, we can wake up from a bad dream feeling tense and apprehensive.